Band of Rain

BIOGRAPHY

My first gig was in 1968 age of 13....Playing Bass.There followed a whole series of school bands, as well as playing in sheds with mates all over Bedford, which is where I really learned how to play as there were so many musicians in Bedford and the immediate surroundings in the 70s.I played at The Bath Arts Workshop in 1973, where I met up with Hawkwind. We jammed for about 4 hours in an abandoned hotel, by the time we were 2 hours in to it, the place was rammed full.I spent the next couple of years drifting from festival to festival, playing with people like Lol Coxhill - The Global Village Trucking Company - The Mike Westbrook Orchestra - And some regulars who ended up as Ian Drurys Blockheads...I moved to the USA in November 1975...Spending 4 years in Texas and a year in Los Angeles.It opened up a whole new ball game for me, and suddenly found there were many places to play, as well as actually quite good pay too.I was doing a small tour of Universities in 1976, when the van we were in left the highway in the desert near Tuscon Arizona. The end result was that both my hands got broken.I moved to Los Angeles where a friend got me a job helping actors to speak with an english accent.It was a good time for me, but after 12 months, I realised that I missed home, and so in June 1980 I returned to the UK.By a strange twist of fate, I found myself living in Germany. I remained there for 6 years, and really loved it.I met so many really interesting musicians, and got in to synthesisers. I still hadnt really got the use of my fingers enough to play guitars.I returned to the UK in April 1985.In 1990 I bought a guitar, and worked hard to get my playing working again.By 1995 I was back in to it with no ill effects...My day job by now was in the media.I worked at Channel 5 TV then The BBC respectively.My work had begun to take me away from music, and I almost lost it completely. Then in the space of about 3 months, I met up with Adrian Belew. We were discussing how, and what kind of imagery could be put together to reflect the music of King Crimson...I got to work on it, but while I was doing that, I realised that music was still the thing I really wanted to do. Then a few months later I met up with Nick Mason. We both share a love of Classic Cars, as well as Historic Racing cars. Nick has his own company where he rents out all kinds of exotic cars to the film industry among others.The company is called Ten Tenths...In meeting these 2 giants of the industry, I knew what I wanted to do.I quit the 9 to 5 and got back in to music, at the exact time it was becoming possible to record good quality CDs, without having to hire Abbey Road for 9 months !The rest as they say, is history, I learned how to record and produce, and got on with it.In 2004 the first album Deep Space came out, and it went down a storm. That was it, I was hooked.Garlands in 2005 and Arts & Allurements in 2007.Arts & Allurements Band of Rain were signed by a new Record Label in the USA founded by Kenny Solomon and Janie Lindenbaum called AmBeCa....Kenny however had to stop everything he was doing for now to look after his folks, Band of Rain went back to being an indy band again.The latest album "Sun in VIII" was released in 2012. I am currently writing and recording album 5, and considering the opportunity of playing live again...

As well as playing and recording as Band of Rain with other members, as well as guests, I have done a lot of collaborations.In the past 4 years I have performed on 9 different albums with other bands, and produced and engineered 2 more.The latest album I have collaborated on is "Ye Old Silent Inn" By Beck Sian. It features John Carder Bush and Raven Bush. It is a kind of gothic folk and was great fun to do as well as dark!

I continue to get involved in collaborations - for me one of the greatest gifts of the internet.My home is now near the coast in Cornwall UK....And the next few years will see me busier than ever....Currently recording a 5th album to be called "The Dust of Stars" 2014